Politics Wed: Campaign Money

Usually, I do not interject opinion with these posts. However, something has been on my mind regarding the presidential race and I wanted to share it with everyone and get your opinions as well.

On the occassions when I get to commute to the office in the morningtime for a meeting, I try to listen to NPR so I can familiarize myself with what is going on in the world. Recently, as I listen to the reports about the campaigns, I find myself astounded at the amount of money collected and spent by the presidential candidates. Especially when the television news stations always show Clinton asking, practically begging, for more money after each primary she wins.

Does anyone else find the amount of money spent just mind-blowing and downright wasteful?

I found a good site which breaks it all down in a nice, concise, easy to read format (crucial for someone like me with a small attention span and little tolerance for long, tediously detailed reports). It details how much money was collected by each candidate (even those not in the race any longer), how much was spent and a general pie graph of how most candidates spend that money.

Another simply baffling aspect of this campaign financing is that they have DEBT as well! Can you believe this?!

Here are some examples for each of the remaining candidates:

TOTAL RAISED
Clinton -- $214,883,437
McCain -- $96,654,783
Obama -- $265,439,277

TOTAL SPENT
Clinton -- $185,216,984
McCain -- $72,666,309
Obama -- $218,884,220

DEBTS
Clinton -- $19,480,893
McCain -- $968,301
Obama -- $2,037,801

After looking at the expenditures, it appears most of the money goes toward employees and their benefits (okay, that's fair I guess unless there's an overly paid CEO scenario happening) and broadcast media. I don't know about you, but I don't really need any candidate spending that much money on those ads. They usually disgust me and I drown them out from my senses when they come on the television.

The one area I think they get their money's worth are those signs outside of the polls, especially the local candidates running for town or county offices -- most people don't know anything about these people so those signs might actually sway someone just because the name would then be familiar.

I really wanted to go into this with more detail and if I have time, I might delve into it more next Wednesday. But I want to know, what are your thoughts on the matter?